The present invention relates to a mechanical bundling strap which is provided with a Universal Product Code (UPC), which is self-mating and is easy to manufacture.
In the retail industries, particularly the grocery and food industries, it is common to provide most products with either UPC or PLU codes to allow the price to be entered at the point of sale. UPC codes are generally preferred in that they can be more rapidly entered using bar code readers without manual entry, as with a PLU code. However, UPC codes are limited in that they must be presented on a substrate which is substantially undeformed so as not to distort the code and also present the bar code in a readable format. With grocery items, such as fruits and vegetables, generally the product has a variable width. The most common material used to hold these products together are elastic containing, which have a variable circumference and can provide some restraining force to keep the product packaged or together. Generally, the most common material is an elastic or rubber band, which is wrapped around the product. These rubber bands are not susceptible to printing of UPC codes in that if they are extended and distorted the UPC code is made unreadable. However, PLU codes can be printed on the surface of a rubber band. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,943,804; 5,913,619; 6,279,255 and 6,058,639 all propose various alternatives of providing tags which are attached or attachable to a standard rubber band used with produce, which tags can be printed with a UPC code. The tags are dimensionally stable and water resistant as well as tear resistant. Generally, the tags are described as being printable plastic sheets and it is emphasized that these tags must be nonelastomeric so as not to disrupt or distort the bar codes.
Although these tags can be employed with standard rubber bands, they require generally, a complicated manufacturing or manual assembly process when attached to the rubber bands. Also the tags when attached to the rubber bands are not easily dispensable or provided in a convenient form for the end user (e.g., in a roll form).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,652 describes elastic bands which can be joined together to form a wrapping strap or bundling system useable with a variety of products. The elastics pieces are generally joined together by a non-tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive and it is indicated that the elastic bands can be printed with various information including PLU and UPC codes. In order to be functional, when the strip is printed with a UPC code the strip would need to be non-distorted during use to enable scannability. It is indicated that scannability can only be obtained if the strips are uniformly elongated along its entire length so as not to distort the UPC code. However, uniform controlled elongation is not likely to happen in ordinary use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,520 describes an interlocking male/female strap formed generally of plastic which can be printed with a UPC or PLU code. The problem with this device is that it engages and is adjustable when it is engaged however is difficult to disengage by the end user in that the locking male section engages with a hole and requires a complex twisting action in order to be removed which would not be readily apparent to a casual end user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,264 discloses a twist-tie type fastener for use with bags, food or the like. The metal wire is sandwiched between two strips of deformable material. One of the strips of deformable material is made larger and coated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive to allow the twist-tie to be engaged without a twisting action, which is described as useful for people having limited manual dexterity. It is also indicated that instead of adhesive that the surface can be provided with a xe2x80x9chook and loop clothxe2x80x9d, however, there is no indication of how this would function so that the hook and loop cloth could be self-mating. It is also indicated that UPC codes could be provided on a flat back surface of the tape backing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,495 describes a standard twist-tie however the UPC code is provided in this case by the use of a tag which is attached to the twist-tie at one end. The tag is a discrete element which is heat fused or adhesion bonded to itself at one end and provided with a suitable UPC marking in the body portion. This is similar to the tags used with the elastic bands discussed above and has similar problems.
The invention relates to a mechanical fastener bundling strap comprising a bundling strap having a first face and a second face with the first face formed by a thermoplastic hook strip material having an array of upstanding hook projections and film backing provided with a printed UPC code readable through the hook projection. The strap is engagable with itself (self-mating) by use of a loop fabric or a self-mating hook mechanical fastener at another location on the bundling strap. The hook strip film backing is characterized preferably by a band that runs at an angle to the bar code that has a continuous zone of transparency. This zone of transparency can be linear or nonlinear and has a transparency gap of at least 250 xcexcm and a transparency gap percentage of at least 20 percent.